Larry’s List: Higher-Education Edition (Updated)

Today on the list: Does the English department have a Jewish problem? Plus: How to make change actually happen, and more.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Newer links are on top.

Medical marijuana may have a host of advantages over other treatments for traumatized vets, but the Department of Veterans Affairs won’t even study its efficacy.

2009 P.U.-Litzer Prizes The stinkiest examples of corporate media malfeasance, spin and just plain outrageousness.

Hybrid Education 2.0 What if you could teach a college course without a classroom or a professor, and lose nothing?

Does the English Department Have a Jewish Problem? The Modern Language Association is famous for the provocative titles of sessions at its annual meeting. But the provocative title of one session Sunday night — so surprising to several MLA members that they expressed disbelief when told about it — contained no sexual wordplay or trendy literary buzzwords.

Beyond Magical Thinking: How to Really Make Change Happen Successful political movements do not spring fully formed. They require long-term, nuts-and-bolts organizing.